The exhibition Who Is Afraid of Motherhood? in Kumu’s Great Hall asks how to build a more caring society

On 6 November, the exhibition Who Is Afraid of Motherhood?, which focuses on contemporary art from the Baltic states and Central and Eastern Europe, opens in the Great Hall of the Kumu Art Museum. It is the first exhibition on such a scale in the Baltic states to address the subject of parenthood. The research project explores and broadens perspectives on motherhood and the family, bringing together a wide range of experiences and viewpoints. The exhibition is curated by Eda Tuulberg, and the exhibition design was created by Flo Kasearu as an artist-designer.

The exhibition reveals the many layers of motherhood, a vast and complex subject, primarily through works that engage with the artists’ personal experiences. The motif that frames the display is fear. The artists point to, analyse and reflect on the fears associated with parenthood, expressing their bewilderment or confronting the sources of these fears, which are often social mentalities, contradictions, assumptions and ideologies, as well as a lack of solidarity and care. At the same time, by presenting scenarios for change and turning many personal experiences into shared ones, Who Is Afraid of Motherhood? has the potential to offer comfort and hope in dealing with these fears.

The Ukrainian artist Kateryna Lysovenko’s painting Untitled. 22.02.2022, chosen as the exhibition’s key visual, brings together, in the museum’s view, the many layers of meaning of the theme. “Kateryna Lysovenko painted the work in Kyiv two days before the start of Russia’s full-scale war, in the midst of a deep sense of fear,” said the exhibition’s curator Eda Tuulberg. “A mother, standing in a revolutionary pose with her son in her arms, mourns all of those who have lost their lives. They are giving the middle finger to war and violence, demanding the right to life. Without care there is no motherhood and there is no life, which is why it is care, not power or capital, that should be the foundation of coexistence between people, and between people and nature,” Tuulberg said.

“With this exhibition, we have sought to create a safe space that brings together very different personal stories, identities and perspectives. I hope that encountering different realities will help to build a more caring society with greater solidarity,” the curator added.

In dialogue with the exhibition in Kumu’s Great Hall, the exhibition Marge Monko: A Human Is Born opens in the Project Space of the permanent exhibition on the 4th floor.

The exhibition is accompanied by public and educational programmes organised in cooperation with Feministeerium and Tallinn University’s Family Relationships and Parenting Research Group. As part of the opening programme, on Saturday 7 November, the artists and the curator will lead tours of the exhibition in Estonian and English. At 1:30 pm, the workshop Who Bears the Invisible Burden? will explore how care work is divided in today’s family models. The workshop will be led by Greta Roosaar, an advocacy specialist and trainer at Feministeerium. The opening programme will conclude at 3 pm with the panel discussion Who Is Afraid of Fatherhood?, moderated by Aleksander Tsapov, the editor-in-chief of Müürileht. On Thursday 12 November at 6 pm, Eda Tuulberg will lead a curator’s tour.

On 7 November, members of the artist collective MATERNAL FANTASIES, Mikala Hyldig Dal, Magdalena Kallenberger and Isabell Spengler, will hold an inclusive performative workshop at Kumu entitled The First Supper, which explores themes of care and involves a number of Estonian and international artists. At the end of the workshop, a new work of art in the form of a photograph will be created, together with the participants, for the series of the same name.

As part of the exhibition’s accompanying programme, the performance Holy Night 2 by Flo Kasearu, Riina Maidre, Oksana Tralla-Anger and Marianne Männi will premiere at Kanuti Gildi SAAL on 24 March 2027.

On 8 and 9 April 2027, the conference Entangled Motherhoods: Care, Politics and Intimacies will be held in connection with the exhibition. Organised jointly by the Kumu Art Museum, the Estonian Academy of Arts and Rīga Stradiņš University, the conference will examine thematic perspectives and experiences from Central and Eastern Europe.

The exhibition Who Is Afraid of Motherhood? is on display in the Great Hall of the Kumu Art Museum from 6 November 2026 to 25 April 2027.

Participating artists:
Jurga Barilaitė (Lithuania), Renate Bertlmann (Austria), Elina Brotherus (Finland), Miriam Cahn (Switzerland), Lilija Dinere (Latvia), Martina Drozd Smutná (Czech Republic), Andrea Fajgerné Dudás (Hungary), Vika Eksta (Latvia), Aneta Grzeszykowska (Poland), Annika Haas (Estonia), Gideon Horváth (Hungary/France), Hanna Hrabarska (Ukraine), Cloe Jancis (Estonia), Zuzanna Janin (Poland), Rasa Jansone (Latvia), Maria Kapajeva (Estonia), Edith Karlson (Estonia), Flo Kasearu (Estonia), Lenka Klodová (Czech Republic), Maija Kurševa (Latvia), Kris Lemsalu (Estonia), Katya Lesiv (Ukraine), Kateryna Lysovenko (Ukraine), Anda Magone (Latvia), Cecylia Malik (Poland), MATERNAL FANTASIES (international artist collective), Riina Maidre (Estonia), Natalie Mei (Estonia), Marju Mutsu (Estonia), Marianne Männi (Estonia), Hanna Piksarv (Estonia), Peter Puklus (Hungary), Anu Põder (Estonia), Emília Rigová (Slovakia), Leszek Rózga (Poland), Ahlam Shibli (Palestine), Killu Sukmit (Estonia), Sophia Süßmilch (Germany), Jaan Toomik (Estonia), Oksana Tralla-Anger (Estonia), Kata Tranker (Hungary), Marta Vaarik (Estonia), Veronika Vallimäe (Estonia) and Del LaGrace Volcano (USA).

Curator: Eda Tuulberg
Exhibition artist-designer: Flo Kasearu
Graphic design: Brit Pavelson
Public and education programme: Maria Lota Lumiste, Anu Lüsi, Feministeerium, and Tallinn University’s Family Relationships and Parenting Research Group
Technical support: Tõnis Medri and Tõnu Narro
Coordinator: Magdaleena Maasik
Assistants: Marit Loitmets, Gloria Niin, Stella Oja and Daria Titova

The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive bilingual book that brings together diverse perspectives on the experience and meaning of motherhood, complementing and expanding on the exhibition’s themes. The book’s editor and one of its authors is the exhibition’s curator, Eda Tuulberg; the co-authors are Yevheniia Butsykina, Mikala Hyldig Dal, Brigitta Davidjants, Rasa Jansone, Eglė Kačkutė-Hagan, Maarja Kangro, Jana Kukaine, Kateřina Olivová, Martina Pachmanová, Viktória Popovics, Ingrid Ruudi, Zuzana Štefková and Aliona (Jelena) Šalaj.

Supporters and partners:
Ministry of Culture of Estonia, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Artproof, Selver, Pakendikeskus, Cobalt, Liszt Institute, Jaan Tõnisson Postimees Foundation, Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia, Social Insurance Board of Estonia and Tallinn Rukkilill Kindergarten